Poetry Analysis: La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats

Friyana Printer analyses John Keats’ La Belle Dame Sans Merci observing the various figures of speech used to enhance the exquisiteness of this poetry.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 

 Alone and palely loitering? 

The sedge has withered from the lake, 

 And no birds sing. 

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, 

 So haggard and so woe-begone? 

The squirrel’s granary is full, 

 And the harvest’s done. 

I see a lily on thy brow, 

 With anguish moist and fever-dew, 

And on thy cheeks a fading rose 

 Fast withereth too. 

I met a lady in the meads, 

 Full beautiful—a faery’s child, 

Her hair was long, her foot was light, 

 And her eyes were wild. 

I made a garland for her head, 

 And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; 

She looked at me as she did love, 

 And made sweet moan 

I set her on my pacing steed,